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The money taken from pensioners was used to buy all manner of luxury goods, such as an Aston Martin

Jurors heard 16 applicants were conned out of £999,266. They included people unable to work through injury, a failing business owner, a former wife made homeless after divorce and parents looking to renovate their home.

Prosecutor Stephen Hopper told Southwark Crown Court: "These people were often in considerable financial difficulty. Cashing in their pension scheme was their only option and it was how Mr Locke and Mr King were able to persuade them in the first place, and many did sign up to things that were not true."

Locke, of Christchurch, Dorest, was jailed yesterday for five years for fraud by false representation and money laundering and disqualified from being a company director for seven years. King, of Poole, Dorset, was jailed for three years for fraud by false representation and disqualified from being a company director for five years.

Judge David Tomlinson told them: "The individuals believed they would be left with half or more of a pension fund to support them to some extent in retirement and, in fact, each has been left with nothing."